Sectional toy railway layout



May 30, 193 L. w. ROSENTHAL SECTIONAL TOY RAILWAY LAYOUT Filed Dec. 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet INVENTOR y 30, 1933- L. w.- ROSENTHAL 1,911,240

SEGTIONAL TOY RAILWAY LAYOUT Filed Dec. 4, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Patented May 30, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT @FFICE LEON w. ROSENTHAL, or new YORK, N. Y.

SEGTIONAL TOY :RAIIQWAY LAYOUT Application filed December 4, 1930. Serial No. 499,878.

5 tion.

The units are provided with power con-- nections and other devices incidental to toy electric railway assemblies, in addition to the aforementioned divisions.

The above described arrangement is advantageous in connection with facility in setting up a complete toy electric railway system from units of a convenient size for storage and handling, each of which units is structurally rigid when assembled and disassembled. Other advantages will be obvious from the following description.

The accompanying drawings illustrate preferred embodiments of my invention.

Fig. 1 is a plan view of one embodiment; Fig. 2 is a section on line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a section on line 33 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4: is an enlarged side elevation; Fig. 5 is a plan view similar to Fig. 1 showing a modified arrangement; Fig. 6 is a section on line 66 of Fig. 5; and Fig. 7 is a section on line 99 of Fig. 5.

The complete set-up, as illustrated, comprises three complementary units 1, 2 and 3. Each unit comprises a base portion or panel 4, mounted on stringers 5, 5 and crosspieces 6, 6, and a division 7 of the track layout. Each division is made up of track sections 8, 8 joined to each other in the usual manner, and secured more or less permanently to its companion panel. Track sections of one division which are arranged to be joined to the track sections of a companion division, preferably project or overhang in part beyond their respective panels so as to facilitate the j ointure of said sections. This join ture of sections provides one means of connecting the units to each other, and another means for doing so is provided by the stringers of complementary units which also project from their respective units and are arranged to be coupled, or otherwise connected to each other, by the pins 9, 9.

I find it convenient and economical to I employ thin and light sheets which in them- 66 selves are not necessarily stiff or rigid, such as compoboard, for the panels and wood strips for the stringers and crosspieces. And it is sufficient for all practical purposes to merely nail the compoboard t0 the stringers and crosspieces.

On one of the units or panels, for instance panel 1, I prefer to mount the usual power controlling devices, one of which I have illustrated as the transformer 10. Running along one side of the base is a cable 11 connected to the transformer, and provided with connector plugs 12, 12, and outlet boxes 13, 13 at the required places.

The rails 14, 1 1 of the various track sections are fastened to ties 15, 15, which also serve to space and keep in spaced relation the track and power rails in the well known manner. The said track sections may be se- H cured to the panels by screws 16 passing of the panels so as to function in addition as i guard rails.

Fig. 6 is an edge view of Fig. 5, showing the entire layout mounted on supporting frames of wood or other suitable material.

As stated above, the material of which the panels 4 are made is not stiff or rigid, but thin and light and soft enough to be easily penetrated by the holding means 16 which secure the tracks in place, and by similar fastening devices which secure together the panels and the cross pieces 6 and stringers 5. In practice I select material for the panel 4 which is too thin and light to make a rigid unit of itself, and the necessary stiffening is imparted to each panel by the addition of the stringers and cross pieces and the track divisions themselves which are in sections united at their ends, the track sections and stringers and cross pieces being firmly attached to the board which is utilized for the panels 4. Each unit is thus sufiiciently still to enable it to be separately handled so that the several divisions of the track can easily be put together or taken apart and still each unit is of comparatively little weight. I thus avoid on the one hand the necessity of making the track in the form of a great number of separable sections, each section comprising rails and cross pieces to be put together one by one and taken apart in the same way; and on the other hand, in order to steer clear of the necessity of having to manipulate so many track sections to set up. the railway, I am not obliged to run into the equally great disadvantage of constructing the track in large and heavy separable portions or units which would entail diiliculties in handling as well as expense in making and require large space for shipment and storage. The panels 4 are not only very light but also have little thickness even when the stringers, cross pieces and rails are attached. The entire apparatus can be sold in knocked down form; that is, with the panels 4, stringers 5, cross pieces 6, track sections 8 and even the cable 11 and controlling device 10 separate, so that these parts can all be put together by the buyer; who will reenforce the bottom of the panels 4 with the stringers and cross pieces and attach the track section, cable, etc., to the upper face thereof. Then all that is needed to unite the units when the railway is to be operated; and when the user is through the units are detached and put away into a chest or closet. Although the panels 4 are light and thin, they can easily withstand such handling as is necessary to connect and disconnect the units on a large table or fioor of a room. It is thus essential to a correct understanding of my invention to bear in mind the fact that my aim is not necessarily to provide a port able electric railway. To build a portable railway, thicker panels and in general much heavier materials would be needed than for merely a railway that is not intended to be carried about from place to place after it is sold to the retail buyer. In the hands of the ultimate owner the railway need only have sui'licient strength and rigidity to enable the units to be moved about a few feet within the walls of the home when the tracks are to be set up and used; and this end is achieved as above set forth by the use of very light materials including thin and light compoboard for the panels, relatively light and thin pieces of wood for the stringers and cross pieces; and by setting up all of the parts so that, in addition to the stringers 5 and cross pieces 6, the track sections themselves, when fastened to panels 4, will cooperate with the stringers and cross pieces to impart to the panels the required stillness and strength.

In other words the panels 4 are merely webs to hold the parts of the divisions of the ciently strong to enable it to endure whatso ever treatment it is likely to receive when the owner puts the divisions of the track together or takes them apart to lay them aside.

It will be further observed that the rails at the two sides of the middle unit of the railway are attached adjacent their centers by means of the cross pieces to the board of the panel 4. The ends of these rails, at the two sides of this unit, project beyond the ends of this unit and are free to be moved more or less to one side towards or from the middle of the unit, so that thev can be forcedby hand into alignment with the divisions of the track on the two end units. Similarly, the rails which cross each other in the center of this middle unit 4, are firmly attached near the middle of this unit and their outer ends also project beyond the end edges of the unit, so that they can be similarly worked or bent by hand slightly, to the extent required to connect them to the spur portions of the switches of the divisions on the track on the two end units. Thus when the units 4 are put together the track divisions of each can be easily aligned so as to make the stretch of rails continuous without any open joints or gaps therein.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

A supporting panel consisting of a plurality of units detachably connected together, a toy railway track having sections mounted on each unit, the track sections on one iuiit being adapted to be detachably connected to the track sections on the other units by pin and socket connections, some of the tracks on one of the units being angularly disposed to each other at their end portions and said end portions being resilient to permit their 1 assembly into operative position with the end portions of track sections on an adjacent unit.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

LEON W. ROSENTl-IAL. I 

